Homecoming
by Spectrist
Summary: Aaron Sauders spent the last five years within the walls of Curdun Cay. Rowe had changed that, changed a lot of things, and Aaron was heading home. Home, however, wasn't quite how he left it.
1. Prologue

**A/N: This is set after the canon ending for Second Son. Just a short prologue chapter to establish the character, so your comments are welcome and appreciated.**

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Curdun Cay wasn't quite hell, but it was close. Augustine had me trapped in her little palace for five years. Five years they experimented on me, ran their little tests, had me cornered like a rat. I never knew why they bothered with these tests either. Augustine was already a Conduit, everyone they brought under their bland yellow banner was infused with power. They had no need to try and steal mine. The world's known how Conduits were activated since MacGrath blew up Empire City. Still, experiments day in and day out. On everyone. It didn't matter how old you were, what you could do, or whether you had even been activated or not, you were under the knife. Delsin changed that, set us loose upon a world that was starting to realize that, just like in the movies, there were the superheroes and the supervillians. Don't know how they didn't realize after MacGrath saved literally the entire world, but whatever. Didn't really matter now, because I was going home. Yeah, I shook Delsin's hand on the way out. Yeah, the little cheat stole my power, but he did me a pretty big solid so I might as well return the favor. He could keep it, for all I cared. It'd caused me nothing but problems.

Caught a bus out of Seattle heading for Portland, seeing as SeaTac was still closed down for whatever reason they had concocted this week. Took a plane across the country, although security wasn't real happy to see me. Neither were the other passengers. They got over themselves about when we touched down and the plane was still intact, I guess. All I cared about was the view that was beyond the smudged and aged plastic window. It wasn't much, but that simple steel arch meant the world to me. Meant I was home. I stepped off the plane, took a cab into the city. Didn't bother heading for my apartment, because I doubted that it was still mine. He dropped me off at the landing, and I stood under the arch for a while. Lost track of just how long, but I didn't care too much. I had missed St. Louis, but I'd wager it hadn't missed me. I went for a walk through the city, meandering aimlessly through streets that had changed very little while I was gone. Walked past an anti-Conduit protest on the corner. One of the guys tried to get me to sign some stupid petition. I took his clipboard, smirked at him, watched his face contort in horror as it was engulfed in ephemeral green and evaporated. He nearly collapsed as he wheeled backward when I flicked sparks in his direction casually.

"B-b-bio-terrorist!" he cried as I strolled away casually. The thin crowd that had been heading my way had dissipated into ether. I didn't mind. It just meant that I could enjoy my walk a little more. I walked past a thrift store, then looked down at myself with a grimace. Still dressed in the last few pickings available to change into on the way out of Curdun. I rummaged through my pockets, found a wad of cash, came to the simple conclusion that it would probably be enough to afford a new wardrobe at a hipster boutique like this, and pushed the doors open. The girl at the register must've heard the protester squealing because she wore a look of morbid curiosity on her face as I entered.

"Did something happen out there? Is everyone alright?"

"Yeah." My voice cracked as I spoke for the first time in days. Cleared my throat. "It was just a little misunderstanding." I stepped over to one of the clothing racks as she started to drone on about "the bio-terrorist threat" or something that I'd heard a million times over from cable news stations and DUP broadcasts. Started to shuffle through hats as she asked me a question.

"Sorry, what was that?" I said automatically, not looking up from the ad-hoc collection of baseball caps and beanies that lay on a bare wooden shelf.

"Have you ever met one of those bio-terrorists? Are they as bad as the TV tries to make them seem?" Picked up a red beanie, kind of like the one Delsin wore. I smiled a bit, against my will.

"Nah, not all of us," I smirked as I turned to look at her. Her face was scrunched up, likely trying to process why the word 'us' was in a place where she had expected 'them' to be. I waved the hat toward her. "I mean, did you hear about that whole Seattle fiasco?"

"Oh yeah!" She chimed immediately, apparently forgetting why she had been confused in the first place. "That Rowe kid running around killing innocent people. That must be awful, I feel so sorry for them."

"Yeah, I met Delsin. Nice guy. Probably never hurt an innocent person in his life." Set my face into a glower. "Don't take everything that you hear on the TV as fact." She stammered a response but I wasn't listening anymore. Looked at the hat that I was holding still. Turned it over in my hands. Started thinking back to what Rowe had said to me on the way out.

"So, what were you in for?" he had quipped. I snapped my fingers casually and he chuckled as green sparks cascaded down. "Oh, I see. You can control... green. Neat."

"Nah," I laughed. Held my palm flat as a small orb sprung to life. "Life force." Beaned him in the face with it. He had a few cuts and scrapes on his face before, watched as they sealed up in a flash of vibrant life. He looked at me stunned, then started to laugh and extended a hand toward me.

"I'm guessing you know my name, so what's yours?"

"Aaron," I stated as I grabbed his hand, translucent energy blossoming around my arm. My vision started to grey as I gave him a parting gift. Started to get the feeling that he knew what I was about to say at this point. "Aaron Sauders."


	2. Chapter One

Augustine had once asked me how, if I could only 'use' life force, I was found by her DUP collectors surrounded by two corpses that were covered in third-degree burns that seemed to have come from nowhere.

"Well, maybe you shouldn't cheat on a Conduit and get caught," I had countered coldly. Don't think she appreciated that answer, but in all honesty I wasn't entirely certain how it worked either. Any rational person would probably assume that manipulating 'life force' means that you were meant to help people. Heal the wounded and treat the sick. Be a hero. My theory was that it was more than just accelerated regeneration that I could hold in my hand. It was the essence of being a human being, the physical manifestation of the human condition. War, famine, pain, fear. All of those things are part of the human condition too. Or maybe I just liked to pretend that I was more high-minded than I really was, and that was all just a fantasy I had constructed in my head to explain away why a healing power could bring about so much destruction. I never thought myself the 'hero' type anyway, which left me to wonder why a being higher than myself decided to give me, of all people, the gift of healing. Some kind of twisted joke was the answer that I came to again and again. The cosmos seemed to have a weird sense of humor.

"Okay, twenty-three dollars is your total," the girl behind the register chimed at me robotically, pulling me swiftly from my daydream. I fished the wad of bills from my pocket, counted out a few and tossed them on the counter as she pulled a plastic bag away from the rack and handed it to me. She looked me up and down before adding, "If you want to change before you leave, the rooms are over there." Pointed toward what looked to be closets constructed from bare sheets of particle board and doors that had probably been donated to the store. I shrugged, waved at her with a fake smile which she mirrored, and pushed my way through the racks of second- or third-hand clothing. Stepped into the ramshackle closet, threw open the plastic bag, and changed into the most nondescript outfit it was possible to assemble in a store that catered to irony. A plain, navy blue t-shirt that was about half a size too small for me, a pair of dark jeans that was tight in all the wrong places, and some running shoes that seemed to have been splattered with paint by a drunken high school student under the impression that this was what individualism was. Tucked a simple pair of black sunglasses into the collar of my shirt, pushed the prison transport clothes into the bag, escaped the hipster closet and eventually back out onto the street.

I looked back to where the protest had been to see a distinct lack of the crowd that I had scared earlier. Assumed they had scattered after their petition had disappeared into the ether and jogged across the street toward a deserted parking lot. I chucked the bag of now redundant clothing in the vague direction of a dumpster with no real intention to make it in, and headed toward the alleyway that connected to the next street over. Heard some sobbing and hushed speech as I walked past a dead-end alleyway that emerged into the lot over to my right. I paused for a second then carried on walking as naturally as I could feign, then doubled back. Pressed myself against the aged wooden fence that closed in the lot. The gate that had blocked this alleyway seemed to have been missing for quite a while and as I peered into the thick, oppressive darkness that engulfed the alley I could vaguely make out the shape of two bodies. Spotted a wooden board that had been sharpened to a point lying on the splintered concrete that stretched between myself and whatever incident was transpiring down there. Had likely fallen off the top of the fence. I crouched low, moving as quickly and as quietly as I trusted myself to. Snatched the stake from the ground as I approached. Stepped on a piece of broken glass in my carelessness. Grimaced as one of the figures turned toward me. I could see the other lying on the ground, their hands covering their face. The first one, the one standing, started to move toward me.

"What's this now? Goddamn fool trying to ghost up on me here?" a low voice growled in my direction. I stood to my full height of 'not enough to trump this dude' and started to back out of the alley. He followed. The sobbing grew louder. A girl's voice choked out from behind the behemoth of a man coming toward me, "Just run. This isn't your problem." Which meant that it was a problem, and I was already a part of it. I spun the wooden stake in my hand, motioned toward the guy in front of me. The shadow burst forward toward me, charging down the alley. I side-stepped the tackle clumsily, turned to face this guy. Huge African-American dude, probably played football in high school. Came at me again. My eyes widened, started to burn. I knew this feeling a little too well. The stake in my hands started to shimmer and pulsate in a dark red veil that emanated from my palms. Brought it up behind my head and swung straight for this guy's forehead with a form that would've made a professional baseball player jealous. All the energy I had pumped into that bit of wood exploded across his face and sent him cartwheeling backward. The back of his skull hit the concrete of the lot with a sickening crunch, but despite this he stumbled back to his feet and pounced on me. Seemed he either wasn't phased by or hadn't noticed that he was going up against a bio-terrorist. Still off-balance from my swing, I was taken down swiftly and gritted my teeth as what seemed like two megatons of TNT detonated against my abdomen. Again and again this brute pummeled his fists into my gut. I reached for the stake which had been tossed from my grasp. I found it eventually, clenched my fist around it. What had moments ago been a rich crimson was now an inky black. I bellowed with the bits of breath that hadn't been beaten from me and violently thrust the stake at this guy's head. It pierced his skull with little circumstance, thick tendrils of darkness crackling from the bits of wood exposed on either side of his face. His jaw went instantly slack and he collapsed on top of me. Scrambled out from underneath the dead weight. Felt the burning dissipate from behind my eyes as my breathing quickened. I jumped to my feet and started to pace around the body, wiping my hands on my jeans. My eyes darted around nervously. Spotted the girl moving in the alley, trying to slip away without me noticing it seemed. I hurried over to her, to try and ask her what I had stumbled into. She immediately recoiled as I approached.

"I'm not gonna hurt you," I breathed, trying to sound as convincing as I could.

"Like I'm gonna believe you after that," her voice faltered, cracked with fear. My shoulders slumped as I turned to look at my handiwork. Hadn't even been back for a day.

"Okay, so I could see why you might feel that way," I started as I turned back to face her. "I was just trying to help, though. I mean, are you okay?" Heard her sniffle a bit, scuffed her feet against the pavement.

"Yeah, I-I'm fine," she stammered. "I don't really want your help anyway if it's gonna end up being that."

"Alright, whatever." Turned and started to walk away. Heard her footsteps behind me.

"I... might need your help, though." I sighed and stopped walking.

"Look, could you just make up your mind?" I said as I turned to face her. In the midday light of the sun I saw a young girl, maybe sixteen, dressed in what could only be properly described as tatters, holding in her right hand something that appeared to be the inside of those plasma globes that move around when you put your hands against them. Her thin face and delicate features were set in a determined gaze, but tears were welling in her eyes yet again.

"I'm scared of it. Scared to use it. Show me how." She clenched her fist and the plasma ball burst, tendrils of purple superheated gas scattering across the lot.

"Look, kid. I don't know how to control this either. That?" I pointed at the corpse that lay behind her. "That wasn't something I wanted. That's how I ended up..." I paused for a moment as Curdun Cay flashed against my retinas, figments of a shattered subconscious. "There, here, in the first place."

"Well," her eyes were locked on the ground between her ruined shoes now. The steadfastness had evaporated from her face. "Just let me come with you, then. Please." I stared coldly at her for a moment, arms crossed against my chest. Relaxed a bit with a long exhale. Motioned toward her.

"Fine. Let's go then." I started off down the alley without bothering to make sure she was following, but I could hear her footsteps behind me, crunching against the loose gravel that was scattered about.

"What's your name?" She asked in an effort to pierce the stifling silence.

"Aaron," I stated after a moment. Turned to look at her over my shoulder. "Yours?"

"Lexi," she chimed with an audible smile, as though nobody had bothered to ask that question in years. Her eyes brightened with a subtle violet hue around her irises, pulsating dimly in the shadows of the alleyway. I smiled at her automatically, shaking my head and looking away in a weak attempt to hide it.

"Alright then, Lexi. We're on our way to go perpetrate some breaking and entering," I said cooly with a thin smile, marching into the midday sun.


	3. Chapter Two

**A/N: Sorry for the short chapters, been getting a little carried away with this. Hopefully I can get that under control. Once again, comments are appreciated, so leave 'em if you have 'em.**

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"So," Lexi started as she walked up from behind me. "Why exactly are you trying to break into your own house?" I twisted around to face her, resting my arm against the back of the bench I was sitting on. I had sent her off with an unknown amount of cash, mostly to get rid of her for a while but also with the hope that she would get a hold of some less ruined clothes, which it seemed she had done. Dark hair pulled back and held down by a light blue bandana she had tied around the top of her head, a somewhat bland white zip-up hoodie with the sleeves pulled up to her elbows and the zipper left open, showing a dark purple shirt. Jeans which were nondescript but at least fully intact, which couldn't be said for what she had on earlier.

"Mostly for the reason that I very much doubt it's still my house," I quipped in reply. Lexi rolled her eyes, padded around the bench and lowered herself onto the grass in front of me. "But, with any luck, the things I need will still be there."

"I saw how much cash you're holding," she stated. "What could you need out of there that you can't just go out and buy?"

"There are some things that can't be replaced," I countered dryly. Lexi looked at me in reply, a look of both sympathy and curiosity swirling in her eyes. She opened her mouth, likely formulating a question along the lines of what it was I needed, and I parried with my own to avoid a conversation I didn't want to have quite yet. "So how'd you get your powers?"

"Well," she started with a grimace after a small hesitation. "It was two years ago, I was fourteen. My class took a field trip to the science center, and we were all looking at the giant plasma globe they had just installed. It was huge, the thing took up an entire room. Anyway we were all taking turns touching it and moving our hands around on it." She paused, took a deep breath. "While I was doing that something happened, it overloaded or something, and the glass shattered. I was the closest to the center and all of the plasma arced to my hand, and I guess I absorbed it or something. One of the other kids got hit with a lot of the glass and he got powers from it too, but the DUP got him and took him away. They rushed me to the hospital because I had passed out when it happened, and I guess I just slipped under the DUP's radar." Another breath that rattled in her throat. A long sigh. "What about you?" I chuckled slightly.

"I just woke up with them one day. I wouldn't have even known if I hadn't been down with pneumonia for a few weeks before then. Woke up fine one morning, like it had never been there." Lexi stared at me slack-jawed for a moment, then barked a laugh.

"Seriously? That was it?" I nodded.

"Yeah, that was it. Just happened to have been the day after the whole Empire event thing went down. I mean," snapped my fingers, summoned an etherial pink flame to prove my point. "It's not like I have the same kind of power you do, or most other conduits. I just control me."

"What can you even do?" Lexi asked, emphasizing the last syllable with a slight scowl and a wave of her hand. "I mean, aside from sticking a piece of wood through my dealer's head."

"Oh, so that's who that guy was," I stated plainly. "I mean, it kinda depends. Mostly healing, it seems, but it varies on what I'm feeling."

"Feeling? Like, what you want to do?"

"No, literally what I am feeling. My emotions. Like, this," pointed at the flame that I had been twirling about my fingers as I was speaking. The hue had drained from it, and it was blossoming to almost twice its size. "This was pink earlier. And a lot smaller. The state I'm in plays a big part in what I can do."

"That's pretty cool, actually," Lexi said with a smile. I snuffed the flame, crushed it in my fist.

"Yeah, I guess it is." I stood, motioned to her. "C'mon, let's get going."

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Lexi didn't understand a lot of things in the world. She didn't understand global economics, as an example. Or why she thought following a murderous conduit through the alleyways of downtown would be a good idea. Why she could shoot plasma from her hands, but never when it would actually be useful. Sure, she could ruin a school theater performance, or torch the inside of her ex-boyfriend's bedroom, but when a dealer decides to come around to collect and she's a bit short on money at the time, well those powers are nowhere to be found. Maybe that's why she decided to follow Aaron, although it seemed he didn't have much more of a grasp on his powers than she did on hers.

"Hey," she breathed, jogging closer to Aaron. He turned his head, gazed at her with eyes that were rarely the same color twice. They had settled on a drab metallic blue for this round of conversation. "Earlier, you said that your powers were how you ended up 'there' in the first place. Did you mean Curdun Cay?"

"Yeah. I spent the last five years there."

"Well, how'd you get out? Can't imagine it's easy to break out of that place." Aaron laughed, most likely at her. She felt her face redden despite herself.

"Does the name Delsin Rowe mean anything to you?" Lexi shook her head. "Well, he set me free. Set all of us free."

"Oh," Lexi responded flatly. "I heard they trained some of the conduits they had locked up in there. Did they do that with you?"

"Nah. Lots of tests. That was about it. Had this junkie though, could shoot lasers out of her hands. Heard talk that they were training her." Aaron ran a hand through the mess of brown hair that accentuated the top of his sharply featured head. "Curdun wasn't much more than a torture chamber for most of us. Some of them got special treatment. Those turned out to be the ones that escaped." Lexi had stopped listening. Her skin was crawling, teeth chattering. Her thoughts were clouded, lethargic. She knew this feeling a little too well.

"Withdrawals," she muttered under her breath automatically. Bumped into Aaron, who had stopped walking and turned to face her.

"Withdrawals? What were you on?"

"Some... stuff." She picked at a freckle that was on the underside of her forearm. Aaron reached out, placed a hand on her face. Lexi tensed up, tried to recoil as translucent blue tendrils bathed the side of her face. Pierced her skin effortlessly, painlessly. "Hey, what're you doing?"

"Helping," Aaron muttered. His brow was furrowed. Lexi felt the hairs on her arm lie still again, and her jaw returned to rest. Her mind was clear again, almost instantly.

"Did- did you just?"

"Yeah," Aaron stated as he retracted his hand, started walking again. "Can't have you being a liability." Lexi was stunned.

"How long will this last?"

"As long as you can stay away from it. So stay away from it forever and it'll last forever." Lexi was beaming. Instant rehabilitation.

"Thanks," she whispered as they turned back onto the main street. Aaron was quiet ahead. They plodded on beneath oppressive silence for, to Lexi, years. Aaron eventually motioned to her to stop in front of an aged apartment block, burdened by years of urban decay. "We're going in there?"

"Yeah," Aaron mounted the small staircase and pushed open the scarred wooden door into the lobby. "Stay close. Or wait out here. Your choice." Lexi followed immediately behind, closing the door behind her with a soft click.


	4. Chapter Three

**A/N: Bit longer this time around, will try to keep expanding the length of the chapters going forward. As per usual, your feedback is welcome, and thanks for reading.**

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My breath was heavy as I hurried up the last few staircases toward the top floor of the apartment block. Slowed my pace as I rounded the corner into the main hall. Bare planks of battered wood formed the floor that ran the length of the building. Stained yellow walls, the drywall crumbling in certain places. Slabs of plain wood that formed the doors to each unit, each one a different color.

"You used to live here?" Lexi asked with chiding disbelief.

"It wasn't this much of a dump when I did," I replied, walking as softly as I could to try and keep the floor from crying out, which it did despite my best efforts. The place looked like it had been condemned and taken over by squatters, with anything that could have been worth money taken, down to the brass door numbers, which meant the odds of getting what I had came for were extremely slim. Followed the hallway as it turned left, remembering as best I could which unit had been mine. Fourth door on the right, which was sitting slightly ajar, yellowed afternoon sun peering through the slit. I pushed the door open slowly, stuck my head in. It was surprisingly more intact than I was expecting. Most of the valuables; television, furniture worth taking, stuff like that, was missing. Most of the drawers were left open and their contents shifted through. A mass of loose papers and clothes were scattered across the floor. I entered slowly, padding across the aging carpet toward the closet that was set against the far wall. Opened the door quietly, held my palm out with a slight blue glow that pushed away the dingy blackness. The closet had clearly been ransacked like the rest of the apartment. Anything I had left in here was missing or destroyed nearly beyond recognition, with the important exception of a small combination safe pushed up against the back wall. Right where I had left it. Spun the dial smoothly, a sense of familiarity washing over me. The door popped open with a soft click, and I pulled it open. Inside was a pair of matching rings, simple silver bands, one adorned with a single small diamond, the other threaded through a plain metal chain. A slightly yellowed picture with the corners curling up, the color washed out subtly by age. Gingerly lifted the photograph, slipped it into the back pocket of my jeans. Pocketed the ring with the stone, her ring. It was supposed to be. Latched the other around my neck with the chain. My ring.

"Hey, uh, Aaron?" Lexi called from the next room over, probably the bedroom. "You might want to come see this." I stood slowly, closed the closet door. Headed toward Lexi, who was standing just inside the doorway to the bedroom, staring at the far wall.

"What's up?" I queried as I approached. She tilted her head toward me and pointed at the wall.

"I don't think this is quite how you left it." Looked inside at what she was gesturing toward. The bedroom had been stripped of all the furniture that had been in here, left bare aside from a desk pressed against the far wall, scattered with what looked like newspaper clippings and handwritten notes. Above it, a number of photographs of crime scenes, mugshots, and stills from surveillance camera footage were tacked against the wall. Numerous colored strings connected the pictures together in a baffling web that looked like it had been pulled from a network television crime drama. I moved over to the network of images, examined them. All the crime scene images had a few things in common. They were all murders, and there was no way that a normal human being did any of them.

"Why are they tracing murders committed by conduits?" I muttered to myself. Shuffled through the newspaper headlines. _Bio-Terrorist Murder Spree Continues_, read one. Another, _Superpowered Turf War Leaves Five Dead_. _Is Saint Louis The New Conduit Gangland?_posited the next. I waved my hand toward Lexi, who approached cautiously. "Do you know anything about a conduit gang war? What have we walked in on?"

"Honestly, I don't know much. This started happening a few months ago. I guess it was a few established gangs that got activated and now this is what it's turned into. I think one of them is based on the other side of the river, in East St. Louis." I sighed, rifled through a few more pages.

"Why was the DUP never called in for this? They would've had a field day." Lexi shook her head.

"No idea. Weren't they getting their funding cut because of how few incidents there were?"

"Yeah. That's how the whole Seattle situation started. But still, this seems like the kind of thing that would bring about a DUP occupation. Or maybe even the military." I ran a hand through my hair. "This is really bad. We gotta do something about this."

"Why?" Lexi countered. "This isn't our problem."

"Yes it is. We're both prime conduits. If anyone brings the hammer down on this situation, we're getting caught in it." A long, rattling sigh. "I just got out of a prison, I'm not going back to one over something like this." I started to scramble through the loose sheets of handwritten notes, grabbed any that looked like they had relevant information; names, addresses, plans. "Look around the other rooms, grab anything you think is valuable," I barked at Lexi. Gathered up as many scraps of paper as I could, folded them up, pocketed them. Started to dig through what was once my bedroom closet. USB drive, a few burner cell phones, not much else worth note. Grabbed the drive and left the rest alone before heading to collect Lexi. As I stepped out of the bedroom, I overheard conversation in the hallway.

"Hey, which one of you left the door open?" Hushed muttering, curses. "You guys, on the door. Let's go." I bolted across the open living room to Lexi, who was rifling through a cardboard box. Grabbed her by the shoulder and pulled her to the bathroom, closed the door behind us.

"Stay here, be quiet," I whispered. "Whoever's operation this is, they just got back." Her eyes widened, plasma started to crackle at her fingertips.

"What are we gonna do? Fight our way out?"

"No," I stated firmly. "I'm going to fight our way out. You are going to stay here until I say otherwise."

"I know I said that I needed your help but I'm not as useless as you think," she retorted, her eyes blazing violet. As I opened my mouth to again refute her, the door slammed open behind me. I spun on my heel to face a white-hot metal baseball bat rocketing toward my head. Dropped to the floor as Lexi let out a shrill scream and a bolt of plasma that caught my assailant in the chest, incandescent energy splashing across his torso. He doubled over with a loud groan as I leapt upon him, my hands streaking a thick crimson. I tackled him to the ground, wrestled the bat away from him. With one of his now-free hands he blasted me away with a violent surge of superheated air. I hit the tile floor of the bathroom, sprawled out on my back. His allies had already heard the commotion and were standing behind him, two with similar weapons, the other with his power at the ready, bathing his fists in swirling orange flames. Lexi cried out as another blast loosed itself from her palm, crashing ineffectually against the far wall.

"Who you with?" the guy who had found us demanded as he retreated toward his allies. Heat waves emanated from his arms, shimmering in the stiff air. He was dressed in all white, as were his comrades. "How'd you find this place?"

"I'm not with anyone. I used to live here," I stated coldly, spinning the bat as I struggled to my feet. Lexi whimpered as she struggled with her spasming arm, violet tendrils arcing wildly about the room. Another bolt shot out, cracking the tile floor. I placed a hand on her shoulder in an attempt to calm her down, ignoring the unpleasant tingling that shot up my arm when I did.

"Well, you picked a bad time to come home, bro," he retorted with a thin smile, rolling his neck. I smirked and loosed a blast in his direction, sending him to the ground as he dove clumsily out of the way. It caught one of the batters in the jaw, blossoming a bright red across his face. He tumbled backward, crashed against the back wall and slumped over. I charged out of the bathroom and swung the bat at the downed man. It slid across the carpet as he jerked his head away, leaving a scorched trail of energy in it's wake. Another bolt from Lexi narrowly missed the other bat-wielding attacker, who rushed toward me. He battered me in the ribs with a blow colder than the grip of death and I crumpled in a heap, air rushing from my lungs and supernovae detonating against my retinas. Dark red sparks erupted from the wound as broken ribs fused and busted blood vessels sealed closed again. Rolled hastily away from a follow-up, countered with a swift kick to his abdomen. The first guy had regrouped with the one that I could only assume was wielding fire, and they unleashed an unholy vortex of flame that rushed toward Lexi, who had just slipped out of the bathroom and was leaned against the wall. She tumbled to the floor as flame crashed against the wall where she had been standing, igniting the aged wallpaper and charring the ceiling. I regained my composure and mounted an attack on the fire conduit. Brought the bat screaming down on the top of his skull, connecting with a deafening crack. He collapsed instantly to the floor as the presumed leader turned and blasted toward me with another gust of hot air. Stumbled to the side as Lexi connected with the ice conduit who was still doubled over from my kick. He was tossed to the floor in a spin, sliding into one of his other incapacitated brethren. I ditched the bat and leapt on the last man standing, choke-slamming him to the floor. Grabbed at his face with my free hand as he tried in vain to loosen my grip on his neck. Tendrils of red seeped into his skin as I attempted to probe at his mind. His eyes widened with horror, rolled into the back of their sockets. I felt his pulse wane as I retracted my hand, having gained nothing. His chest started to heave strongly as his faculties became his own again, but he wasn't going to be waking up any time soon. I could sense that the others would most likely live as well, but even as primes they wouldn't be fighting fit for quite some time. I sighed, wiped my hands on my jeans, collected my bat from the floor. I turned and looked for Lexi, who was still slumped against the wall, stone-faced. I crouched down in front of her, placed a hand on her shoulder. She turned to look at me with dull eyes.

"Hey, you okay? Still with me?" She nodded, but her hands shook violently. "You've never done anything like this before, have you?"

"No," she choked. "I couldn't control it. That was terrifying." Tears were welling in her eyes again. I stood up, reached a hand out to her. She grasped my wrist and I pulled her up to her feet, placed an arm under hers to help her stand. Helped her down the stairs, out the front door. I carried her over to a nearby bus stop, set her down on the bench. "Does it ever get any easier?" She asked quietly.

"To control your power? Yeah, eventually. To hurt people with it? No." We sat in silence for a while as the sun gradually lowered itself below the skyline, the sky alight with streaks of orange and purple.


	5. Chapter Four

**A/N: Sorry about the wait for this chapter, but here it is. Once again, your feedback is welcome.**

* * *

Dark, heavy clouds obscured a streaked violet sky. Wind blew down deserted streets, whipping up newspapers that had been cast aside by pedestrians that were nowhere to be found. One lone figure stood hunched in the middle of an intersection. Heavy indigo bolts crashed down from the sky, attracted to the figure as though it were a lightning rod. A single car approached from the east, pulling up to the intersection slowly. The figure turned it's head toward the car, it's face illuminated in the brilliant white of the headlights. Dark hair cropped short, adorning delicate features that were masked beneath scars and patches of dirt. Instantly familiar, and yet disturbingly alien. Her face set into a gleeful snarl as tendrils of hazy purple crackled around her fingertips. A massive burst of superheated gas crashed against the front of the car, tossing it aside like a piece of trash. Another splash of lightning cracked against the pavement near her as she started to laugh. Plasma arced from her index finger to the simple silver ring she wore on the middle, crackling off the metal chain that weaved up her arm and wrapped around her wrist.

"Told you I ain't useless," she cackled as a dark crimson figure materialized behind her, a thin smile spreading across it's underdeveloped face.

* * *

Lexi bolted up with a sharp gasp, her face drenched in cold sweat. Rubbed the heels of her hands against her eyes, pressed in the bridge of her nose. Tossed away the tattered bedsheets and slung herself out of the thin mattress she had slept on. Looked over to the couch where Aaron had been sleeping, was unsurprised to not find him there. She stood slowly, grabbed her jacket off the arm of a nearby chair, pulled it on. Padded over to the bathroom, stared at the shattered mirror. Innumerable versions of herself gazed back, dark circles clinging desperately to flat eyes. She shook her head in an attempt to drive the haze out of her mind. Left the dingy bathroom, pulled on her shoes, headed out of the cheap hotel room to find Aaron. Lexi crossed the dimly lit lobby, ignoring the clerk at the desk who was intensely focused on her phone. Pushed the front door open, gazed up at the thinly overcast sky. The muted grey backlit by the sun. Aaron was sitting on a bus stop bench near the hotel, turning a scrap of paper over in his hands. Lexi fixed a forced smile to her face, strode over.

"Hey, is that something you got off the gangers?" she queried. Aaron stayed silent for a moment, until Lexi opened her mouth to repeat the question.

"No," he answered softly. "This is one of the things I had to get out of there." Lexi walked around the back of the bench, looked at it from over his shoulder. It was Aaron, a few years younger, longer brown tousled up messily. A young woman stood next to him, long blonde hair tumbling down over her shoulders, her arm around his waist. The sun framed by the two slender legs of the arch behind them. They were both beaming at the camera.

"How old were you in this?" Lexi questioned, pointing toward the Aaron frozen in the weathered photograph. He scratched at the side of his face, short fingernails scraping across thin stubble.

"Twenty-three. This was a few months before they shipped me off to Curdun."

"Is that your girlfriend?"

"Was," he snapped, his previously somber face instantly set into a scowl. "I... messed up. Messed it all up." Lexi caught a glimpse of a ring dangling from Aaron's finger as he turned the photograph over again, a silver band set with a small stone. An engagement ring, most likely. It seemed to Lexi that this was a touchy subject for him, so she satisfied herself with that assumption as she slid onto the bench next to him. Aaron exhaled longingly as he put his hands on his knees, pressing the photo against his jeans. "We met in college," he started after a moment, talking to himself almost, as though he had to remind himself. Lexi turned her head toward him. His eyes fixated on the splintered concrete. "Had been together the whole time through, don't know how we pulled it off but we did. When I got my powers, she didn't panic. Didn't turn me in. She was understanding, stayed with me while I struggled with it. Don't think I could've made it without her. Went out one day, told her I was going to work. Went and bought these." He pulled the ring out from beneath his shirt, let it hang limply from his neck. "Came home, had it all planned out. Found her in bed with some dude I had never seen before. I was furious, I lost control. Didn't even know that I was capable of that, at the time. The whole room went up in, well, flames. In a sense. It was an accident, but I didn't know." A single tear slid down his face, splashed against the concrete, evaporated quickly. "I tried to save her, but it was too much. I couldn't fix it, couldn't do anything." Lexi reached out, put a hand gently on his shoulder. "Guess somebody heard it, or saw something, I don't know. The DUP dragged me away pretty easily after that."

"What was her name?" Lexi asked softly.

"Kendra," he managed to choke out after a moment. The two sat together in silence for a moment, until Aaron stood suddenly. Tucked his mementos back into his pockets. "I'm going for a walk. You can come if you want, or just go do your thing, I don't really care." He started to move off, and Lexi jumped to her feet, following closely behind.

* * *

I spent most of the day meandering aimlessly through downtown, Lexi staying mercifully quiet behind me. I guess she got the idea after I broke down outside the hotel. We had stopped off to eat at what was basically a shack that had been set up at the corner. The guy behind the counter seemed pretty wary of the pair of us, not sure why. I didn't pay him much mind, ate and left without saying a word in his direction. We eventually ended up in Forest Park around one in the afternoon, and I settled down onto a bench overlooking a small lake, the fountain in the center filling the air with small specks of water that created a multitude of rainbows over the lake. I stretched out, pulled the small wad of papers I had confiscated from the apartment out of my pocket, unfolded them and spread them out. Lexi had lowered herself into the grass nearby, fiddling with the dandelions that were spread out around her. I started skimming through the notes. Most of them were inane ramblings, borderline diary entries on what had been happening during the day. Through these, I was able to figure out that the group we had ran into went by the name 'The BT's', which I assumed was short for 'The Bio-Terrorists', who were warring over the city with the gang 'Purity'.

"Lexi, come over here," I called, beckoning toward where I thought she would be. She padded over, slid onto the bench next to me. "You said that you thought the other gang was probably stationed in East St. Louis, right?" I asked, pointing at the mention of Purity on the scrap of paper I was holding. "Any idea where we could look for them? You ever been over there?"

"A few times, I guess," she replied after mulling over the question for a few moments. "I don't really know where we could start looking, besides just going over there and causing a scene." I kept looking through the notes as she answered, found something that piqued my interest. An itinerary of Lifeline protests in the area. I slapped the stack of notes against my hand.

"There's an anti-conduit rally going down near the landing in a few hours. We could stake out the area, see if something starts up between the two of them while they're out there, tail any Purity guys that show up across the river." Lexi nodded slowly.

"I'm down with that plan," she smirked as she jumped to her feet. I nodded stiffly, stood and stuffed the notes back into my pocket.

"Let's get down there, then. Don't want to miss out on anything."


End file.
